


A Fragment of two lives in a generic Anime Story

by The Judgement (TheJudgement)



Category: No Fandom, Original Work
Genre: Anime, F/M, Fantasy, Magic, Short, Standalone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-05
Updated: 2018-03-05
Packaged: 2019-03-27 10:13:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13878732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheJudgement/pseuds/The%20Judgement
Summary: This is a small part of a far longer story I plan on writing. It can, and is to, be read as a standalone short story. This story describes a critical occurrence in the lives of Kaede, a 24-year-old shy light-magic-user assassin with a painful past and Iori Hanazawa, a 23-year-old wind-magic-user tactician, otaku and lolicon. The two of them, among many others, were forced to be soldiers because of their talents in combat. Having no other choice than to accept their lives as they are, they'll do their duties and try to enjoy the ride as much as they can.





	A Fragment of two lives in a generic Anime Story

**Author's Note:**

> Some spoken words will be written in Japanese. These words are written in cursive, though you'd notice they're not English even if they weren't cursive. The translations will be given in the end notes. Why not here? I think it'd be better for you, the reader, to potentially not understand these few words at the beginning and give you the option to translate them after the story rather than show you a few things characters will say before you even start reading.

Kaede glanced at the door. She had to get out. So many people were outside, including her older sister. She couldn't allow herself to be trapped inside any longer. As swiftly and silently as if she wasn't even there, the assassin ran towards the exit. Her light grey hair, with a barely noticeable minty green hue, waved in the breeze she left behind. The distance of the sprint was hardly seven times her height; she could reach the door within a second. Even with her short and youthful posture. But even that incredible celerity wasn't enough.  
" _Yare yare_... And where do you think you're going?"  
It was the voice of Kaede's roommate, Iori. Maybe his lolicon instincts were actually useful. Or, they would have been, if they weren't so questionable.  
Kaede came to an immediate halt, turned towards the long-haired man and started stammering shyly. Tears blurred her amber eyes. Iori was tasked to keep his roommate shut inside until the army returned, and he always fulfilled his duties. She'd have to fight him. She'd have to kill him. But she didn't want to. Iori had done so much for her. Even though he'd completely deny it, Kaede owed him so much. She knew that even though Iori was virtually her jailer at this moment, he'd do anything and everything in his power to make the assassin comfortable. He wouldn't want to draw his weapons, either.  
He calmly walked up to Kaede with the wide, ever so questionable grin he wore whenever he looked at what he'd describe as "A delicate and adorable anime girl with the appearance of someone whose age is somewhere between seven and fourteen years old". The assassin wanted to run. She needed to escape. But she couldn't do anything. Iori grabbed her left hand and gently attached something to the forearm of her lightweight leather armour with a more friendly and understanding smile. It was a mechanical grappling hook. Kaede gave Iori a relieved smile. That was probably the most beautiful thing he'd seen in his lifetime.  
"You're going to come back with that new volume of the Hajiko manga. I swear, I'm not unlocking the door without that." Iori's smile vanished. "Don't you dare die, Kae-chan. You're coming back. Understand? You are coming back," he added.  
Kaede nodded determinedly in response.  
" _Kae-chan nara dekiru yo_ ," Iori said with his characteristic, lazy smile.  
The assassin ran and didn't look back.

Kaede bathed in yellow magic. She ran over the rooftops, almost at the speed of light. Light-elementals could move extraordinarily fast. With every step she took, her velocity increased exponentially. She was agile. In a fight, she could dart around faster than anyone and strike wherever her opponent couldn't block quickly enough. But it's the long distances where she really shone. If she'd get a long enough runup, she could traverse several miles in less than a second.  
Within minutes Kaede reached the ravaged battlefield the army took days to travel to. Such was the power of a skilled light-elemental. Corpses were scattered everywhere in and between the city ruins and plain rubble. Most of these bodies had once belonged to a human being. Enough for the assassin to be sure that this area wasn't safe yet. She knew the army's tactics. If an area is too dangerous or if there's one entity that poses too much of a threat, they push towards the next area as soon as they can and come back to finish the leftover threat in a later operation with the aid of magic users.  
It didn't take long for Kaede to find the high-class entity. And, to her horror, she also found who she'd been looking for.  
The giant Shadelord was holding Kaede's mortally wounded sister, ready to eat her alive.  
The assassin immediately unsheathed her daggers and forced her magic to an offensive style. There'd be no manner of energy conservation and her highest movement speed would be reduced drastically, but her bones wouldn't be able to break, her light's destructive capabilities were increased and she wouldn't need any runups to reach her maximum speed. That bastard would pay for hurting Yuri.  
Kaede launched herself at the demon and stabbed it in its neck as a surprise attack. She knew that that wouldn't be enough to take it down, but it'd be the best hit she could deal. Leaving the follow-up to her instincts, the assassin fired the crossbow on her right wrist and materialised a small platform of light underneath her feet to jump up from.  
But Kaede didn't notice that the Shadelord didn't stagger for a moment when she sank her daggers inside its neck, and she didn't have time to jump away from the newly created platform.  
That one error, that one split second she wasted by aiming and shooting the crossbow, made her entire combat style worthless. She didn't have time to avoid the Shadelord's claw. It flung Kaede at a collapsed house with enough force to turn any normal human into a sticky, red stain on the wall. But Kaede's light magic protected her to some extent. Her bones weren't broken, and she only had a few cuts on her skin. The pain, however, wasn't reduced in the slightest. Kaede could barely gasp for air as she watched the Shadelord mockingly swallow her sister, whole and alive. She closed her eyes in a futile effort to hide her tears as she waited for the demon to execute her. She couldn't save Yuri-nee. She couldn't save anyone. And she thought of the worst part of it all:  
_"Iori... You've been such an amazing teammate. And even more. You've done so much for me. You've been so important to me. No matter the trouble, you were always there with your lazy smile. Nothing ever worried you. No matter how terrified I was, you were there to support me. Did you do it just because we were teammates? I don't believe it. Even before the two of us shared a room as one unit, I could rely on you. You always went out of your way to give me the best time I could have. And I never once returned the favour. I know you don't mind. I know you're content with just my shy smile. But now, I can't even do that... I... I won't be coming home tonight... I'm sorry, Iori. I'm sorry."_  
The rattling sound of a metal chain echoed in the ruined city. An odd, out-of-place sound to the ignorant. But to Kaede, it was a familiar noise that could only mean one thing. Iori.  
When Kaede opened her eyes again, she saw the demon's arm, wrapped in metal chains. That was Iori's kusarigama. A chain with a heavy weight on one side and a kama on the other. The long-haired man smiled as he forced the kama in the ground and used his wind-elemental magic to keep pushing it downwards.  
"Why, I'm just going for a stroll and the first thing I see is a smug Shadelord throwing my loli at a pile of bricks. I mean, yes, Kae-chan is twenty-four years old, but just look at her... You wouldn't hurt someone as adorable as her, would you?" he sighed while picking his small roommate up.  
" _Jiyaa_ , I guess I'd gather the  _kawaii shoujo_  and take my leave. Have fun being chained to the ground for the next few hours! Oh, and don't worry. You can keep the kusarigama.  _Matane_!" Iori grabbed a glowing stone from his pocket. A location warp symbol. A magical emergency exit you have to link to a certain place and activate to be transported there in seconds. Before Kaede could even blink, she was staring at the familiar walls of her apartment.

Iori's mocking smile, meant for the Shadelord, vanished. "I was too late. I'm sorry I couldn't save Yuri-oneesan."  
Kaede couldn't respond. She caused so much trouble for Iori again. He had to use an immense amount of air-elemental magic to follow the assassin's slipstream without falling too far behind. And now he was the one apologising? Kaede wanted to say something, but she couldn't figure out what. In the end, she silently let Iori bandage her wounds while pondering about how to comfort her truly irreplaceable friend.  
"Thank you," was all she thought she could manage. But upon seeing the lazy, characteristic smile on the man's tilted head, she knew what he wanted. She knew what he needed.  
She knew what she had to do.  
Kaede grabbed Iori's chest, pulled herself towards him and cried.  
_"Being an assassin is so terrible! It is a life of solitude and death... Why did I have to be so good at killing? Why couldn't I just be normal? I wondered that for so long! But... I wasn't alone. You were always there. And... And... And... I'm so glad you were... Thank you... Hontou ni arigatou!"_

**Author's Note:**

> Iori: Yare yare - Interjection. Can't be literally translated, but means something by the lines of "Phew" "Well well" "Give me a break" "Good grief" "Oh boy" etc.
> 
> Iori: Kae-chan nara dekiru yo - Kae-chan (Kaede) can do it. In Japanese, the literal translations for the word "you" are often replaced with the person's name. Technically, you'd be speaking in third person, but not only is it grammatically correct, it's also generally more perferred.
> 
> Iori: Jiyaa - Well then.
> 
> Iori: Kawaii shoujo - Kawaii means cute/adorable. Shoujo means girl.
> 
> Iori: Matane - See you later, see ya.
> 
> Kaede: Hontou ni arigatou - Thanks a lot/thank you, really.
> 
> Additional notes: Chan is placed after someone's name as a sign of affection of any kind. Iori calling Kaede "Kae-chan" is Iori showing how adorable he thinks Kaede is. Nee- means "Elder sister" and can be placed after said elder sister's name as a title. Chan/san/sama/whatever honorific you'd like can be placed after "Nee" as well. You can also put an O in front of Nee. This is more formal and shows a little bit more respect. This is why Kaede simply sais "Yuri-nee". She knows Yuri well and is very fond of her sister, so she doesn't use any honorifics and uses Nee instead of Onee. Iori uses "Yuri-oneesan" because he has a less close and informal relationship with Kaede's sister.


End file.
